sunshine balaclava

I have been working on this little crochet balaclava, using leftover Term yarn from the Lillies Top I made for Ósk. (Although, as it turned out, I had to buy more of it anyway and will have leftovers from this project as well...). This is yet another pattern by my talented friend Hildur Yr, and a very quick and cute one it is. It has that hippie vibe about it, as so many crochet projects do, and will make a fitting present for our friends first baby, who is due in the next few days. It's nice to do some crochet along with all the knitting, it's been a while and I somehow forgot how fun it is.

I'll make it a short post this time, I've had a very long day and have an early meeting tomorrow morning. I am linking up with Frontier dreams as usually and highly recommend checking out at least a few of the KCCO links over there - so many interesting and beautiful things being made all over the world! Inspiring indeed!

twelve months of stashbusting

September: Stuðlaberg scarf

October: The Litlar Stjörnur Mittens

November: Huge Manly Mittens

December: Happy hat

January: Kríuungi cotton bibs

February: Orange baby neck-warmer

March: Mini-Bella's

April: Felted magic mittens

May: Finishing touches

June: Mini-me

July: Silk cap for cutie

(Sorry for the awful photo, it's from my phone, it's the only one I've got)

August: Testing-this-yarn-gloves

All done! I used a lot of stashed/leftover yarn in this whole process, although I have to say my stash of yarn seems to somehow just grow itself back every time I make a cut, much like a plant. Yet another knitting mystery, I guess. 

This has been a long day, with Ósk's christening and birthday party. Everything went beautifully and we are so grateful for our family and of course the little star of the day herself. I got her a rainbow silk as a christening present but I'm still saving the birthday presents since her real birthday isn't until Tuesday even though we celebrated it today because we already had invited everyone for the christening. 

Thank you Hildur for hosting the stashed/leftover yarn challenge. In hindsight I can see I have used this as an opportunity mostly to make gloves and mittens :) 

one woman's stash... is a another woman's new stash

A lot has been going on a around here in the past week, peeking on Saturday when I ran a half-marathon in under two hours and then went to two parties. Fortunately, Sunday was quiet and now we are slowly easing into our weekly rhythm. Next weekend is a big one, as well, with Ósk's baptism and first birthday party. And the weekend after that, we're leaving for a two week trip to Greece! So the simple life is not really happening as it is. I do my best to keep our weekly rhythm in tact to help the children feel better in this chaos. These are all great blessings and loads of fun but I do look forward to the end of September when our life will be back to normal. Until then, I will enjoy this busy, exciting time.

One of the parties I went to was my friend Linda's birthday. She had invited a few yarn-loving gals over for soup and white wine - and then she pulled out everything from her yarn storage and we went trough it all, organizing, pondering, admiring and sharing crafting stories and jokes. The best party ever, is you ask me! She gave me a small skein of Dream in Color Classy from her stash, a yarn I had been wanting to try, and I just couldn't help but cast on a pair of gloves for Ósk the following morning. It's the last stashbusting project, too, so having moved on to other people's stash is quite amusing! Later this week, I plan on blogging about all the projects I've finished for this challenge - they're not so few, I tell you.

I admit that I keep questioning me why on earth I have so many projects going on. I feel like I'm always trying to simplify and have lesser to focus on but somehow I manage to still start new projects weekly and then constantly dream of others worth starting. This will remain a mystery to me. *sigh*
Until I figure my own mysterious ways out, I better keep calm and keep knitting.

silk cap for cutie

With all the rain we've had this summer, sitting in my front yard knitting in the sun while the kids play has not been happening daily, not even weekly come to think of it. Yet, it is one of the things I love most about having a yard and I will miss it. Moving day is next Friday, so soon! In between all the preparations I am knitting this tiny blue silk cap as this month's stashbusting project and since today is sunny I can't bring myself to stay inside with cardboard boxes. I'd much rather to be outside looking at pretty flowers, my sweet kids while knitting with silk!

I did a test crochet with this deep blue BC Garn Jaipur Fino Silk Fibre in April and thought to myself that the leftovers would be a perfect amount for a baby silk cap. One of my oldest and dearest friends is having a boy in two weeks and this will be his welcome-to-the-world gift from me. I've never knitted with pure silk before and as you can see in the photo it is a bit unforgiving compared to wool. Some rows I've done a couple of times but it still has visible flaws. Never mind, since the color is awesome and a silk cap is such a practical thing for a baby, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Since I'm moving in four days and don't know when I'll have good internet (or good time...) it might be a while until my next post. Stay tuned :)
Knitting on and along with Frontier Dreams :)

last one standing

I have finally picked up where I left on my Morganite sweater, in the meantime managing to make peace with the fact that the pattern had major errors and that I had to rip the lace yoke part out and start over. I'm done with the horrible ripping-out-part and am now well on my way with the repairing and reknitting. The silver lining of it all is that I found an Icelandic knitter on Ravelry who already knit this pattern in the same size, had the exact same problem with it and even recalculated the whole thing to make it add up! She was so kind to give me her notes and now all I have to do is to copy what she did. The endless support and advice the online knitting community is willing to give never ceases to amaze me. Thank you!

This sweater is the last project from my (now former) pile of work-in-progress. The last one! And did I mention that I can't wait to wear it?

A neck warmer for Ósk
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerinio and Juno Fibre Arts Milly Singles
Needles and hook: 3.5 mm
Pattern: Improvised

I did manage to finish a small stashbusting project for the month of June as part of the 12-months-of-stashbusting challenge I am participating in. I knit a simple neck-warmer from my Juno leftovers and I love the outcome. So soft and warm, so simple and handmade - and totally improvised. And the best part in my opinion is that it matches my shawl, so my sweet little mini-me and I can dress the part :) 

And this week I'm keeping calm, crafting on and along with Frontier Dreams.

Thanks for stopping by! Best wishes to everybody - I have a camping trip planned next weekend so I don't think I'll be back here in a week or so. À bientôt!

flowers, children - and a blanket!

Granny Square Blanket by my Great Grandmother Sigurlaug

Yarn: Icelandic Kambgarn

Needle: 3.5 mm

Pattern: Classic granny square with an extra wide border

I've been staying at my parents house near Mývatn Lake for over a week now, relaxing, enjoying family time and soaking up the few moments of sun we've had. I felt like the colors and size of the granny square blanket required sunshine and green (not soaking wet) grass so when the opportunity finally arrived I of course went overboard with the amount of photos. But they are lovely and so is this little blanket, made by langamma Sigurlaug for her great granddaughter Ósk. It is already one of my most cherished heirlooms :)

More tomorrow! Until then - best wishes. 

stashbusting with pride

Early March this year, I was visiting my great grandmother Sigurlaug (we share a name) and she was telling me that unfortunately she no longer could knit or crochet since her hands ached too much. She is such a talented and experienced knitter and has made many gorgeous things for her rapidly growing family through the years. She told me she had been making this beautiful granny square blanket for Ósk and asked me if I could finish it for her. I was very proud to say yes! Since then I've been very busy and this little blanket has been waiting for me in my WIP basket. But now I've decided that it's perfect as my May project in the stashbusting challenge I'm participating in. So now I'm competing against time, trying my hardest to finish before Sunday when June comes around. Wish me luck!

And speaking about stashbusting... this sweet daughter of mine got a new hat from my friend Hildur Ýr, hostess of the stashbusting challenge, none the less. It was knit only from leftovers and the stripes are in my opinion a marvelous proof that sometimes the best creative solutions spring from limited materials :) Takk Hildur!

More soon! Best regards and thank you all for stopping by. 

ps. I finished my shawl. It is huge. And totally worth every hour spent on it. I have a photo session planned for tomorrow and crossing my fingers the sky will get rid of it's dark clouds of past days...